William Parker's The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield

Curtis Mayfield's urgent urban-soul storytelling might not seem like a natural match with the kind of roiling ecstatic jazz that bassist and bandleader William Parker specializes in. But on I Plan to Stay a Believer: The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield, issued last year by AUM Fidelity, Parker and his bandmates (including singer Leena Conquest and poet Amira Baraka) explode Mayfield's songs into anthems of black identity and triumphant spirit, with a driven intensity that calls to mind vintage Charles Mingus and Archie Shepp. They'll recreate that joyful noise here—people, get ready.